Thanks Paul. I've always liked Stuart's profile as seen from the west - a giant pyramid standing head and shoulders above the horizon. I only wish that we had our normal fall clear air that day - we couldn't even see Rainier and Glacier Peak that day.

James, there's no doubt that you should "get up to Washington"! Our mountains are of low elevation because their bases are essentially at sea level, but low elevation does NOT translate to small size. The North Cascades are the most rugged mountain range in the US, when defining ruggedness by average slope. If you like lots of high-angle relief and alpine conditions (tons of permanent snowfields, lots of glaciers, etc.), and if you like remote wilderness country, nothing else compares. Mt. Stuart is at the very southern extremity of this region. C'mon up! -Bob

Thanks Joel! One of the reasons I've enjoyed SummitPost so much is that it is a way to connect with others who have even more passion for the mountains than I have, helping me feel like I'm not alone in an assylum that my non-mountain friends and family think I'm in. They just have no clue about those "reasons we cherish being among them"! :-)

Piggybacking on your above splendid reply I offer you this by Willi Unsoeld, a patriarch in American mountaineering: ...."My final prayer was one of thanksgiving for the sublimity of the high places, for the sheer beauty of the mountains and for the surpassing miracle that we should be formed as to respond with ecstasy to such beauty."

Great quote from Willi! I love the "surpassing miracle" part, and I often think of that very thing. What guarantees that we would not only think the world is beautiful, but would respond to that beauty with such soaring emotions?

After Willi died, his widow Jolene went into politics and was my third congressional district representative in the US House for 3 terms. The story of Willi's Everest West Ridge first ascent has inspired me since I was a teenager.